Where we’re going, not where we’ve been: Indigenous leadership in Canadian higher education

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite increasing calls for systemic change in the Canadian higher education sector, Indigenous leaders continue to be under-represented, under-funded, and overworked. This qualitative study investigates the purview of senior Indigenous leaders within Canadian higher education, drawing on interviews conducted with four senior Indigenous leaders at Canadian universities. The study, underpinned by emancipatory Indigenist research, draws on the literature predominantly written by Canadian Indigenous scholars. Reporting on Stage Five of a qualitative Australian project – Walan Mayiny: Indigenous Leadership in Higher Education, this paper is the first of four international aspects of the larger project. Findings suggest these Indigenous senior leaders overcome significant barriers to gain senior roles, while the weight of systemic change is carried by individual Indigenous leaders. The question addressed is how senior Indigenous leaders can unsettle systemic barriers so that universities are facing in the direction of where they need to be going, and not where they’ve been.